2023 Best Value Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois
Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices
Finding the Best Music Bachelor's Degree School for You
Music is the #33 most popular major in Illinois with 1,129 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 19 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best value bachelor's degree programs for music students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.
When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.
Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
Top 10 Best Music Bachelor's Degree Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Eastern Illinois University the best value school in Illinois for music students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the distant town of Charleston, EIU is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at EIU are $12,297 a year.
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The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at Western Illinois University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value music schools in Illinois. Located in the town of Macomb, WIU is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at WIU are $13,297 per year.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Illinois State University. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Illinois State is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Normal.
Illinois State undergraduate students pay an average of $13,968 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
Illinois State also made our Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list, coming in at #5.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Northern Illinois University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. NIU is a large public school located in the suburb of Dekalb.
NIU undergraduate students pay an average of $14,738 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. SIUE is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Edwardsville.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at SIUE are $11,496 a year.
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value bachelor’s degree music programs. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public college with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UIUC are $17,634 a year. On average, music graduates from UIUC take out $19,824 in student loans while working on their Bachelor's Degree. When it comes time to repay the loan, graduates who are on a 10-year repayment plan pay an average monthly payment of $613.
UIUC did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.
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University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value bachelor’s degree music programs. UIC is a fairly large public school located in the city of Chicago.
UIC undergraduate students pay an average of $15,603 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. SIUC is a large public school located in the city of Carbondale.
SIUC undergraduate students pay an average of $15,240 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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With a ranking of #9, Wheaton College Illinois did quite well on this year’s best value schools for music students working on their bachelor’s degree. Wheaton College Illinois is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Wheaton.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Wheaton College Illinois are $40,820 per year.
Wheaton College Illinois also claimed a spot on our Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.
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Northwestern University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
Northwestern undergraduate students pay an average of $60,768 in in-state tuition and fees each year. Assuming that a graduate chooses a 10-year repayment plan, the average monthly loan payment is $431.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Northwestern is ranked #2 for overall quality for music in Illinois.
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Request InformationBest Value Music Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
Explore all the Best Value Music Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 734 |
| Ohio | 1,138 |
| Indiana | 660 |
| Wisconsin | 359 |
More Music Rankings in Illinois
Other Related Music Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Music Related Majors for Music
One of 10 majors within the area of study, music has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Related Majors
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Fine & Studio Arts | 37,413 |
| Design & Applied Arts | 36,301 |
| Drama & Theater Arts | 17,341 |
| Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 16,778 |
| General Visual & Performing Arts | 6,355 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 19 schools only.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
More about our data sources and methodologies.